A Kenyan judge has declared that Facebook’s parent firm, Meta, may face legal action in the country due to a contractor’s termination of several content moderators.
The content moderators filed a lawsuit against Meta and two contractors last year, claiming that their attempts to form a union cost them their jobs as employees of Sama, a Kenyan company hired to oversee Facebook material.
They claimed that after Facebook switched contractors, they were banned from applying for the same positions at Majorel, another company.
October of last year saw the breakdown of the moderators’ out-of-court settlement negotiations with Meta. The case may affect Meta’s global cooperation with content moderators. The multinational behemoth is responsible for vetting graphic content uploaded on its site by moderators worldwide.
On Friday, the Court of Appeal’s order confirmed a labour court’s decision from April 2023 in Kenya, which had declared that Meta could go to trial regarding the moderators’ dismissals. Meta had challenged this decision.
Additionally, it upheld a different decision from February 2023 that allowed Meta to be sued in Kenya for allegedly subpar working conditions. Meta had challenged the decision.
“The upshot of our above findings is that the appellants’ (Meta’s) appeals … are devoid of merit and both appeals are hereby dismissed with costs to the respondents,” the judges at the Court of Appeal said in their ruling.
In the past, Meta has refuted claims of a subpar workplace in Kenya by stating that its partners must offer circumstances that are among the best in the sector. According to Majorel, it doesn’t discuss ongoing or ongoing legal disputes.
“Meta being sued in Kenya is a wake-up call for all Big Tech companies to pay attention to the human rights violations taking place along their value chains,” said Mercy Mutemi, a lawyer for the content moderators.
The moderators’ legal team, Foxglove, a British tech rights group, claimed Meta had reached its limit.
“We are excited the roadblocks are finally gone – and will support the 185 (contractors) every step of the road to the courtroom,” Foxglove director Martha Dark said.
